In Warner's world, coattails are key

It's raining in the "Best Small Town in America." Bedford, Va., is the home to the National D-Day Memorial, Holy Land USA (a 190-acre replica of "the Bible Lands of Israel"), and, this past Saturday, former Virginia governor-turned-Democratic-senatorial-candidate Mark Warner. Striding amidst the rain-spackled crowds of Center Fest, a food-music-crafts event that draws over 20,000 people annually, Warner put on his typical high-energy display of retail politics.

One of Warner's first encounters was with Joyce Mays Baker, a retiree from Lynchburg who, during her chat with Warner in Bedford, laughed while the former governor put his campaign sticker on her arm.

Referring to the John McCain sticker on her other shoulder, Baker said that Warner was unfazed. "He said he didn't mind it, so I don't mind. I told him I would vote for him."

Arguably Virginia's most popular politician, Warner has a special magnetism for Republicans because of his business background and his proclivity for taking his campaigns into traditionally Republican turf such as NASCAR races.

In Bedford Saturday, many of those sporting political items wore both McCain and Warner paraphernalia. Sam Rasoul, Democratic congressional candidate in Virginia's sixth district, said that polling numbers show up to 25 percent of Warner voters will vote for McCain. This proliferation of split-ticket voters raises the question: Why are Virginians tilting toward Warner while vacillating between McCain and Barack Obama?

Over the weekend, Warner spoke at the Montgomery County Democratic Committee dinner in Shultz Hall, a sportsmen's banquet sponsored by WSLS 10, and the first Donkey Dance, a dance party put on by Democrats for Democrats in Salem. He spoke about local Virginia politicians, only later appending thoughts about the national campaign. It's Warner's approach — and legacy — that is greatly appreciated by Virginia Democrats.

"Mark Warner is our coattails," Rasoul, who campaigned with Warner in Bedford and Salem Saturday, said. "He is the definition of a Virginia Democrat. He pulled people like me and others like me into the Democratic Party in Virginia ... He means the world to us."

In one sense, this is reflective of Warner's long tenure in state politics, including a stint as state chairman of the Democratic Party, and intimate connection to the people and issues of varying counties around Virginia. Further, it is a part of the Warner "brand," what he calls "radical centrism" — a style of political maneuvering that Warner said would envelop McCain should the senator not win the presidential election.

"I'm a strong supporter of Senator Obama but the folks I'm going to put forth first are the people of Virginia and, like I said at the Montgomery County dinner, we ought to have leaders who will ask us to step up not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans," Warner said.

In another, it, keeps Obama — and the senator's perceived problems connecting to Southwest Virginians — off the Warner coattails.

"There are a lot of hunters and, fishermen, for example," said Elizabeth Obsenshain, executive director of the New River Land Trust and an attendee of the MCDC dinner. "They don't know Obama well enough and people spread the fear that 'Oh, he's against guns.' I think McCain is somebody they identify with because when you look at the population breakdown here in Montgomery County we have more Asians than African-Americans. So Obama, to some people in Southwest Virginia, is not somebody they look at and immediately identify with where as a Senator McCain is somebody they would."

Virginia representatives of Obama's Campaign for Change did not return calls for comment Monday.

A local focus also points at Warner's grander Washington aspirations: the presidency.

"Looking forward to a presidential bid, Mark Warner wants to build as big a tent as possible in a red state so when he runs for president — and its not an if, it's a when — he can say, 'Look, I'm getting gigantic numbers in Virginia and I can translate that throughout the South,'" said Cordel Faulk, director of communication for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

The Warner message also varies by geographic locale. Jim Gilmore's campaign manager Dick Leggitt said in Northern Virginia, Warner is not shy of his association with Obama.